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Ferine Apocalypse #1
Collapse
The sweeping sickness, a global pandemic. Billions lie fallen, gripped by an unknown affliction. Hope is all the few survivors have. Hope that the collapsed will recover and wake again.
But waking is when the real nightmare begins…
A mystery illness sweeps the globe. Swifter and more virulent than anything ever recorded, enfolding the earth like a savage hand snatching a child’s marble. The City Flu in Britain. The Sweeping Sickness in America. Misnomers, semantics, swirls of the matador’s cloak, the names don’t matter. There isn’t time for that. Normal life is slipping its gears, sliding into unknown territory. The illness is never properly classified, identified or studied. The descent into disaster is too fast, the effects so debilitating that the impact is already catastrophic. Put simply, vast numbers of people become too ill to work and so things stop working.
Horror is here, and greater horror lies ahead. Because the collapsed aren’t just unconscious, they’re changing.
Cities lie strangely silent. Roads oddly deserted. In the countryside, the fields are empty of humanity, once more the preserve of the beast. The power is failing, the twittersphere going quiet, the fires burning unchecked. After a few unbelievable and devastating days, civilisation stands on the brink of collapse, on the precipitous edge of a fall that will be beyond comprehension. The smouldering dawn of an Apocalypse.
A tiny percentage of the population remains unaffected. With incalculable numbers lying unconscious, those lucky enough to be immune are left with the impossible task of coming to terms with the situation, of grasping a horror that that is continuing to reveal itself.
Recovery is still possible. The fallen may recover from their coma-like condition, their increasingly mutated state. If they come back, civilisation can be salvaged from catastrophe.
But when the collapsed come back, the true Apocalypse will begin.
Collapse is the story of a handful individuals as they attempt to retain their humanity… and survive a post-apocalyptic world where, more often than not, all you have left is yourself. A world where monsters swarm every street, and horror haunts every thought.
The first novel of the new Ferine Apocalypse series. Stories of survival in the face of unrelenting fear. But what cost survival? What cost living beyond Apocalypse? The immune, those that remain unchanged, have very few choices left, and none of them are good. As the Banjo Man says, days are dark and living ain’t what it used to be.
Mankind has dropped down a rung on the food chain. If you were fortunate enough to escape infection, you’ve just become a food source. And your world, the ordinary world, has changed beyond all recognition. It’s become a savage place. A place where every step may be your last and being eaten alive may not be the worst thing that can happen. Being dead may be a better option.
The Ferine World has new rules and those rules are in a state of flux. Blood flows freely and justice is governed by the mutable law of tooth and claw. It remains to be seen if there’s room left for humanity. In the midlands, Sam Scott, an ordinary woman confronted by a far from ordinary situation. The only thing she has worth saving is her sanity. In a village on the outskirts of Birmingham, George Lowton, a twelve year old boy forced into an unthinkable act by unimaginable circumstances. His last chance an unreachable brother, separated by a few miles that seethe with the stuff of nightmares.
But waking is when the real nightmare begins…
A mystery illness sweeps the globe. Swifter and more virulent than anything ever recorded, enfolding the earth like a savage hand snatching a child’s marble. The City Flu in Britain. The Sweeping Sickness in America. Misnomers, semantics, swirls of the matador’s cloak, the names don’t matter. There isn’t time for that. Normal life is slipping its gears, sliding into unknown territory. The illness is never properly classified, identified or studied. The descent into disaster is too fast, the effects so debilitating that the impact is already catastrophic. Put simply, vast numbers of people become too ill to work and so things stop working.
Horror is here, and greater horror lies ahead. Because the collapsed aren’t just unconscious, they’re changing.
Cities lie strangely silent. Roads oddly deserted. In the countryside, the fields are empty of humanity, once more the preserve of the beast. The power is failing, the twittersphere going quiet, the fires burning unchecked. After a few unbelievable and devastating days, civilisation stands on the brink of collapse, on the precipitous edge of a fall that will be beyond comprehension. The smouldering dawn of an Apocalypse.
A tiny percentage of the population remains unaffected. With incalculable numbers lying unconscious, those lucky enough to be immune are left with the impossible task of coming to terms with the situation, of grasping a horror that that is continuing to reveal itself.
Recovery is still possible. The fallen may recover from their coma-like condition, their increasingly mutated state. If they come back, civilisation can be salvaged from catastrophe.
But when the collapsed come back, the true Apocalypse will begin.
Collapse is the story of a handful individuals as they attempt to retain their humanity… and survive a post-apocalyptic world where, more often than not, all you have left is yourself. A world where monsters swarm every street, and horror haunts every thought.
The first novel of the new Ferine Apocalypse series. Stories of survival in the face of unrelenting fear. But what cost survival? What cost living beyond Apocalypse? The immune, those that remain unchanged, have very few choices left, and none of them are good. As the Banjo Man says, days are dark and living ain’t what it used to be.
Mankind has dropped down a rung on the food chain. If you were fortunate enough to escape infection, you’ve just become a food source. And your world, the ordinary world, has changed beyond all recognition. It’s become a savage place. A place where every step may be your last and being eaten alive may not be the worst thing that can happen. Being dead may be a better option.
The Ferine World has new rules and those rules are in a state of flux. Blood flows freely and justice is governed by the mutable law of tooth and claw. It remains to be seen if there’s room left for humanity. In the midlands, Sam Scott, an ordinary woman confronted by a far from ordinary situation. The only thing she has worth saving is her sanity. In a village on the outskirts of Birmingham, George Lowton, a twelve year old boy forced into an unthinkable act by unimaginable circumstances. His last chance an unreachable brother, separated by a few miles that seethe with the stuff of nightmares.
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 4, 2016
9 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
John F. Leonard
13 books119 followersJohn was born in England and grew up in the midlands where he learned to love the sound of scrapyard dogs and the rattle and clank of passing trains. He studied English, Art and History and has, at different times, been a sculptor, odd-job man and office worker. He enjoys horror and comedy (not necessarily together). Married with two astonishing children, he now lives a few miles from the old Victorian house in which he was born. Scribbling scary stories seems to keep him vaguely sane (accurate at time of writing).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2016
Just finished this and am really quite impressed. First time author I think (can't find any other titles) but it has an accomplished feel. Well-written with great characterisation.
A nice take on the apocalypse/zombie genre.
A nice take on the apocalypse/zombie genre.
December 25, 2017
Apocalypse stories are everywhere. However, John F. Leonard has created an epic world that could span many books. I will admit to having felt lost in it more than once, but it is overall an entertaining read. The ebook could use a bit of copy editing in some places, although the small errors within are not as distracting as they could have been.
May 16, 2020
It’s the end of the world as we know it...
Collapse is a new take on the traditional Zombie apocalypse novel - more 28 days later than Day of the Dead.
A worldwide pandemic leaves millions dead, and the rest...changed.
A handful of survivors try to navigate this new landscape, and are slowly brought together as their stories intertwine.
This was an okay read, but the only real issue I had with it was that it was so long. My personal belief is it could have done with a god edit and chopping a few hundred pages, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I just believe that there were a few places where some of the story could have been cut with no real harm done to the overall plot.
That said, it IS a very original take on a very familiar story and Leonard does have a strong writing voice, which is why I am giving it three stars.
Would I read anything else by this author?
Yes.
But I think I will look for something that is not quite so lengthy next time, as I think this particular author is better in slightly smaller and more condensed doses.
Collapse is a new take on the traditional Zombie apocalypse novel - more 28 days later than Day of the Dead.
A worldwide pandemic leaves millions dead, and the rest...changed.
A handful of survivors try to navigate this new landscape, and are slowly brought together as their stories intertwine.
This was an okay read, but the only real issue I had with it was that it was so long. My personal belief is it could have done with a god edit and chopping a few hundred pages, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I just believe that there were a few places where some of the story could have been cut with no real harm done to the overall plot.
That said, it IS a very original take on a very familiar story and Leonard does have a strong writing voice, which is why I am giving it three stars.
Would I read anything else by this author?
Yes.
But I think I will look for something that is not quite so lengthy next time, as I think this particular author is better in slightly smaller and more condensed doses.
September 30, 2021
Fast-moving, visceral action and terrific characterization. We follow multiple plotlines through a savage, disintegrated world in a novel that promises to be the opening act of some truly epic horror. (See also the author's novella, '4 Hours'.)
A spattering of typos did mar it slightly for me. Other than that, I enjoyed 'Collapse' a lot, and found myself whizzing back through after I'd finished, to revisit how several of the characters had been introduced and marvel at how far they were to progress.
Great stuff!
A spattering of typos did mar it slightly for me. Other than that, I enjoyed 'Collapse' a lot, and found myself whizzing back through after I'd finished, to revisit how several of the characters had been introduced and marvel at how far they were to progress.
Great stuff!
April 2, 2017
It is a very rare thing when a book terrifies me to the point that I have to put it down. That is precisely what happened with Collapse. More than once I had to avert my eyes, count to 10, sack up, and keep reading.
Mr. Leonard's tale of the end our world is one of pure violence and sheer terror - I pride myself on not getting too caught up in a story (a blessing and a curse), but somehow the author is able to place me in these situations in which I'm just not sure I'm gonna make it out. Big time kudos to Mr. Leonard for having the ability to do that.
The author does not hold back when it comes to telling us the horrors of this new world. This could very well be what it'd be like if evolution took a turn for the worse. Make no mistake, this ain't no YA dystopian tale.
There were some sexual situations that bothered me, but that could be simply because I have a hangup about sex in books... in this case, I think it forwards the story (which is also a rare thing), but that doesn't mean I have to like it. In any case, it did not enter into the reason as to four stars instead of five.
So, why four stars and not five? As good as the story is, there were grammatical errors that tended to take me out of the story... and this is a story that, although I would have to take myself out due to sheer terror, it bothered me to be taken out by typos. With all due respect to Mr. Leonard, I think with just a once-over editing session, I would not hesitate to give this a solid five-star rating.
Mr. Leonard's tale of the end our world is one of pure violence and sheer terror - I pride myself on not getting too caught up in a story (a blessing and a curse), but somehow the author is able to place me in these situations in which I'm just not sure I'm gonna make it out. Big time kudos to Mr. Leonard for having the ability to do that.
The author does not hold back when it comes to telling us the horrors of this new world. This could very well be what it'd be like if evolution took a turn for the worse. Make no mistake, this ain't no YA dystopian tale.
There were some sexual situations that bothered me, but that could be simply because I have a hangup about sex in books... in this case, I think it forwards the story (which is also a rare thing), but that doesn't mean I have to like it. In any case, it did not enter into the reason as to four stars instead of five.
So, why four stars and not five? As good as the story is, there were grammatical errors that tended to take me out of the story... and this is a story that, although I would have to take myself out due to sheer terror, it bothered me to be taken out by typos. With all due respect to Mr. Leonard, I think with just a once-over editing session, I would not hesitate to give this a solid five-star rating.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews